


Reunions

by Terion



Series: Tales from the Emerald Dream [4]
Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Family Reunions, Gen, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22120714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Terion/pseuds/Terion
Summary: Through urging from Caren Bloodwolf, Necronim reconnected with his childhood best friend Gillian Addington. Once they worked together in the same street gang...now Gilli has her own gang of boys and is an information dealer in Stormwind.And she has helped him find the person he lost everything for: his little sister. He can only hope that the meeting doesn't go to shit.
Series: Tales from the Emerald Dream [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/598927





	Reunions

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting complete on my computer for a while so here goes publishing it. I'm not currently still working on the series itself but I may return to it in the future.

"You're certain?" Necronim asked for the third time to the woman leaning against one of the outer walls of Stormwind next to him. "Well and truly certain it's her, Gilli?”

The human woman, Gillian Addington, rolled her eyes before shaking her head. "You think I don't remember your little sister all of a sudden, do you, Tathdyl?”

Sighing, he ran his hand over his face in exasperation before saying, "It's been _ years _ , Gilli.”

" _ Four years _ , Tathdyl. That's not that long at all.”

Giving her a long stare that he was certain she couldn't read the exasperation in since Caren was really the only one who had had a chance to learn his expressions, Necronim pointed out, "One of which I don't remember, one and most of another I was half feral, and the other was my best friend putting me back together.”

He wasn't going to let it get out too much that he remembered the things he'd done as a thrall of the Lich King. It was already bad enough that Caren knew. He didn't really want Gilli or Mara to know that he did.

Gilli pouted playfully at him and teased, "And here I thought  _ I _ was your best friend.”

"I can have two.”

She laughed and he smiled at her before adding, "I also wasn't sure how you'd take...this.” He gestured vaguely at himself, indicating his wasted undead form and was surprised when she just scoffed.

"Please," Gilli said with a half laugh and a dismissive flap of one hand, "I don't care about the dead thing. You're still you, still the kid who stole fireworks with me on a lark just to make his baby sister and a bunch of other kids with nothing smile for a few minutes.”

"Gosh, Gilli," he intoned cheerfully, "if I still had a beating heart it'd be fluttering right now. I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said about me too.”

Normally he wasn't so glib about his current state with anyone but Caren - she'd seen him at his worst and seen right through him - but Gilli was made of tough stuff. He knew the kind of shit she'd seen and done; in fact, he'd been there for a lot of it. If Gilli said she was fine with it he believed her.

"It is not!”

Necronim just arched an eyebrow at that and she laughed before amending, "Alright, Tathdyl, maybe you're right. Though I do remember telling you once that you had an awfully pretty face.”

He frowned for a moment, trying to recall when exactly that was and it hit him abruptly. Years ago he'd been a trainee still, dragged out on a mission he absolutely should not have been on by a full member who had hated him, and had ended up with a score of scars for it. He'd gone toe-to-toe with three brutes more than twice his size at sixteen and had handily gotten his ass handed to him. It had been what had gotten the job done, though, and what they had been after had been gotten out. He’d thankfully been dragged back to Stormwind and not left behind - Evers Sulward had been a rotten shit to him but the man hadn’t been bad enough to leave a trainee behind when he’d survived a beating - and been told to report to the SI:7 medics.

Instead he’d gone to Gilli.

Necronim clearly remembered sitting on a box in the old gang hideout where she’d still been at the time, stripped out of his SI:7 leathers down to just his underclothes. He could remember that she’d handed him a bottle of some kind of rotgut liquor and he’d downed it in gulps despite how shit it was as she put her deft hands to work stitching up his open wounds. Then she’d stolen the bottle for a long swig before handing it back and getting down to the process of cleaning the blood off his skin. As he recalled, she’d shoved him into her bed and curled up with him with a knife against her heart, swearing that if anyone fucked with him in the morning (since he was SI:7 now and no longer of the gang, making him partly the enemy) she’d take them out herself.

“You told me my face was pretty when I had two black eyes and you had to stitch up this scar. Not exactly positive, Gilli,” he noted softly, gesturing vaguely up at the old scar now barely visible against his wasted cheek.

Gilli just smiled at him sadly before she turned her shoulder against the wall and lifted her hand towards his face. He started to jerk back immediately in response, not wanting her to feel his cold flesh, but managed to still himself. Necronim flicked his eyes to hers and realized all of a sudden that he had missed so many signs when he’d been alive.

As she cupped his cheek in her hand - which was warm, oh so _ warm _ \- she said softly, "I always thought you had a pretty face, Saran. Even when it was fucked up.”

“Gilli." He breathed her name out in a gasp and he wanted, Light he _ wanted _ to ask why she had never said anything. But he _ knew _ that answer.

There was never happiness for people like them.

Instead he slowly brought his left hand up, giving her enough time to register his movement and decide her own. She didn't move, of course, and he carefully settled his hand over hers, wishing vainly that his fingers still had flesh and remnants of nerves instead of bare bone so he could feel her.

"I'm sorry," was all he could find to say. Then he frowned and asked, “Is that why you don’t care about the dead part?”

“Caught me out fair and square, Tathdyl,” she replied quietly. Then she chuckled dryly before brushing her fingertips lightly over his skin. “And don’t be sorry. It would’ve never worked out and you know it.”

“Could have still tried.”

Gilli just laughed at that. “I would’ve ended up killing you in your sleep, probably.” Then she moved her hand to pat his cheek, saying, “You need anything from me ever, you’ve got it. No questions, same as always. We clear, Tathdyl?”

Necronim was nodding before he was even entirely aware he’d decided to make the motion. “Yeah,” he replied as he lightly squeezed her hand, “we’re clear. And it’s the same for you, Gilli, from me. You ever need me, I’ll be at your back and my blades’ll be in your enemies.”

“Like old times?”

“Just exactly like.”

That made her beam at him, her smile almost blindingly bright, and her fingertips very briefly brushed over his cheek again. Then she let her hand fall and asked, “You ready?”

He let her hands slide out of his as she moved it, not resisting at all as it pulled away and took what he could feel of her warmth with it. “Ready,” he confirmed. Then Necronim frowned and asked, “You told her?”

Gilli frowned and replied, “I told her I found you. I didn’t…”

“You didn’t tell her what I am.”

His chest felt abruptly tight with nerves (which it logically  _ shouldn’t _ be because he was dead but screw whatever it was keeping him upright and functional) and her face fell as she replied softly, “No.” Necronim just stared at her then he leaned forward, hands extended with his palms up in open question and certain his face read the same way (or at least what little it could).

“ _ Why? _ ” he demanded. “Why didn’t you...Gilli, I wanted you to talk to her before so she’d be  _ prepared _ . I don’t want this to be a  _ surprise _ ! This shouldn’t be a surprise!”

“I didn’t know how to tell her,” she replied, her voice low but not soft. No, her voice was firm, which meant she believed that she had done the right thing. “She never was like us, Tathdyl. You kept her out of all of the shit just as much as her bad health did. That and I wasn't going to say anything in front of her kids.”

If he had still had a beating heart, Necronim's would have stopped right then and there. He stared at Gilli for a moment that seemed to drag on forever before he said, "Kids? My baby sister has _ kids _ ?!”

Mara had been nineteen when he had been arrested and rarely well enough to even leave her own bed. The string of illnesses that had plagued her childhood had followed into her youth and young adulthood and it had been all their mother could do to keep them afloat, even with the money he had sent. Promises to help her had been a big part of what had gotten him arrested in the end.

So how had she ended up well enough to have not one but two children? SI:7 surely hadn't done anything for the family of a traitor and he had ended up with few willing to help him back then.

“Two and another on the way,” Gilli replied.

He just stared at her, still trying to figure out what the heck could have happened, before asking, “She’s not...she’s not bringing them with her, is she?” If he had nieces or nephews, he didn’t want to cause them fear or terror. He didn’t want them to think he was a monster (even if he still did).

Shaking her head, she replied, “I asked her not too. Told her it would make things easier to not have two meetings alongside a reunion.”

Necronim let out a sigh of relief and nodded in thanks. He then looked at her and asked, “Where are we meeting?”

Gilli smiled and answered, “Here. Now.” Her eyes then drifted past him and he was suddenly and violently aware of eyes on his back, stiffening up in reaction. “Hello, Mara,” she said to someone he couldn’t see.

“Gilli,” greeted a female voice in return, a stranger’s voice practically except for the few familiar notes within it. It sounded wavering and fragile just then as it breathed, “Saran?”

“ _ Bitch _ ,” he hissed under his breath at Gilli.

She just shrugged off the word - she’d been called worse on bad days and also knew he didn’t mean it - and muttered, “Here was what was safest for you. Now answer your sister, Tathdyl.”

Necronim’s shoulders tensed up and he fought against a sudden urge to run. Instead he forcefully squared his shoulders and replied a little breathlessly, “Hello, little sister.”

There was a sob from behind him and he heard pounding footsteps before a body forcefully slammed into him, arms wrapping tightly around his waist. Mara pressed herself against his back and he deliberately kept his hands away from hers where they wrapped around him. He didn’t want the first thing she felt to be his hands. They were enough of a horror by sight alone.

“Where’ve you  _ been _ ?” she asked, sniffling. He could dimly feel her nose against his spine through his armor and knew she was leaning her head against him. “I thought…I thought you were dead. Mama told me that you were  _ dead _ .”

At that Necronim stiffened and he let out a choked gasp before replying, “It’s a...it’s a long story.”

Mara pulled away from him abruptly then and he felt her hands on his elbow as she said, “You’ll have to tell me everything. Saran, come on, turn around.” He looked desperately at Gilli in response to this plea but she just stared back at him, making a motion with her hands that he translated as  _ go on, this is what you asked for _ .

“Saran,” came his sister’s voice again, soft and unsure. “Why won’t you look at me?”

He coughed desperately and said, “It’s not you, Mar. It’s…”

“Whatever it is, I don’t care!” she exclaimed, her grip on his elbow tightening. “Please, Ran,” Mara added, a desperate, broken sounding plea.

Bowing his head, Necronim muttered, “You may regret saying that.” He then turned his foot and twisted on his heels, shifting his stance utterly so his back was to Gilli and he was now facing his sister.

She looked…

Light, she looked  _ good _ .

Mara looked  _ healthy _ and  _ hale _ and he didn’t  _ understand _ . There were still the scars on her arms from the pox she’d caught and survived as a child but the skin there had a healthy color and not the paleness that had plagued her for years. Her gray eyes - their mother’s eyes - were bright and beautiful, not hazy with illness as they had been the last time he’d seen her.

And beneath her modest but finely made dress was the obvious swell of a several months gone belly.

_ What happened? What did I miss? How did she get better?! Was it...did I do everything I did for nothing? _

_ Did I sacrifice everything for no reason? _

Her eyes flicked over him and he watched the horror grow in them, her hands falling away from his arm and rising to cover her mouth. Necronim stayed stock still as he watched her take in his appearance, knowing all too well what she was seeing: skin gone a gray shade of purple in death, the slight permanent stoop to his shoulders that was a product of his death, the exposed bone of his face at his mouth accented by his careful stitching to keep the skin around it from being a ghastly mess, and the eerie glow in the back of distinctly empty eye sockets.

He’d repelled with horror at the sight of himself the first time too.

“Sa...Saran?” she breathed, her voice muffled by her hands.

He just nodded slowly, not wanting to move too quickly and spook her.

Mara sucked in a heavy breath then asked, “I...what…” She then stopped, closing her eyes for a moment, before asking softly, “What  _ happened _ ?”

Flinching, Necronim replied, “Mother told you...she told you I was arrested?”

“I didn’t believe her. Didn’t believe you’d do those things. Ran, please, please tell me you didn’t…”

“Not all,” he interrupted. “But I have to own the fact that I did do  _ some _ of them. I was…” Cursing under his breath, he glanced back at Gilli and got the response of her moving forward, leaning her weight into his back and pressing her palms against his shoulder blades. It was a wordless gesture of support and it helped him finish. “I was in some serious shit, little sister.”

It anything, the confession made Mara’s horror only seem to grow. Yet it also made her  _ angry _ .

She abruptly flung her hands down away from her mouth and her hands curled into fists at her sides. There was a  _ rage _ in her gray eyes and he could see the temper she’d always had but had never been able to express because of her illness suddenly roar like a sea storm.

“ _ Why?! _ ” shouted Mara. He flinched at the shout but knew they didn’t have to necessarily worry about being overheard. They were outside the city near the cemetary wall and it had so few visitors that they weren’t likely to be overheard. It was why Gilli had chosen that spot most likely.

That and a rotten sense of humor at his state of being.

“Why would you get tangled up in that?” she snapped angrily, the volume of her voice lowering naturally into a low growl. “You had a good job! You told me all of the time that you were happy!”

“I lied,” he said helplessly. Then he was shocked when Mara lunged at him, slamming her fists against his chest with what would have been enough force to knock the breath out of his lungs. If he needed breath in what was left of his lungs anymore, anyway.

“You killed people!” she hissed, hitting him with each word. “You hurt people, hurt their families! You helped cause chaos in the city! Why! Tell me  _ why _ , Saran!”

Moving swiftly, Necronim caught her wrists within his hands and she stilled, staring at him in shock. He was certain she registered the fact that there was flesh  _ and _ bone touching her but moved on from that moment, hissing, “For  _ you _ , little sister. I did it for  _ you _ .” Her face twisted into an expression he wasn’t certain how to read and he decided to plow on.

“You were always so ill and nothing I could buy with what I earned was helping,” he stated matter-of-factly. “So I started buying favors with my skills, trying to get enough that I could actually get you some help. I’d just begun a deal that might have gotten you a  _ good _ healer when the Defias got wind of what I was doing.”

Shrugging helplessly, Necronim said, “They blackmailed me. Said that they’d not only ruin all of the favor I’d gotten, they’d make sure my deal never went through. They’d turn over the information they had about what I’d been doing to SI:7 if I didn’t do what they wanted.”

“And,” he added, “as a final incentive when I tried to get out, when I told them I didn’t care if SI:7 found out what I’d been doing, they threatened  _ you _ .”

Shaking his head, he uncurled his fingers from around her wrists, letting them fall back to her side, as he breathed, “You’re my baby sister and I couldn’t…” Abruptly choked up, Necronim jerked his head away so he wasn’t looking at her as he finished what he was trying to say. “Our bastard of a father fucked off from his responsibility. I wasn’t going to do the same. If I had to die for it, I was going to see you well and safe.”

“Ran,” breathed Mara. He then felt her hands touch his chest tentatively before she pressed them fully against his leather armor. “You…you shouldn’t have done that for me.”

“Everything I ever did was for you, Mar,” he breathed. Then he turned his head back to look down at her and while he noticed that she flinched, he also noticed that she didn’t pull away. That was...that was something at least. “Even staying away as long as I did after. I didn’t…”

He trailed off and Gilli tapped her knuckles against his shoulder in an old code knock the gang had had to mean  _ all safe. _ It meant she had his back.

Fuck, he didn’t deserve her. Never had.

Bowing his head, Necronim said softly, “I didn’t want you to see me like this. Like a...a monster and not a man.”

There was silence for a long moment after he spoke those words and he just waited, looking down at the ground. He expected...he didn’t know what he expected.

What he got in response wasn’t anything like what he imagined it being.

Shaking hands, warm and alive, left his chest and cupped his cheeks, gently pressing his head upright. Necronim stared down at his sister, her face nervous but her smile bright as she touched him, and couldn’t believe it. It was too much.

Too much to actually hope that they were  _ okay _ .

“You were never either,” Mara whispered, “and still aren’t.” His unbeating heart felt like it stuttered at her words, aching inside of his chest. She then smiled brightly up at him and added firmly, “You’re my brother. My  _ stupid _ , overly protective big brother. Just that. Nothing else.”

“Mar…”

Necronim choked and he lifted his hands in a helpless manner, staring down at her with an expression he wasn’t certain how to describe twisting his face and an emotion he was unfamiliar with after so long tightening his chest. His little sister nodded and he swept her up into his arms at the silent permission. He hugged her tightly while remembering to be careful of her waist, burying his face against her shoulder as his shoulders shook desperately. After that, he realized what he was feeling.

Relief.

The sort of relief that brought on sobs and tears.

But he couldn’t shed tears and he hadn’t actually cried since he’d been in his first year of training. It had been beaten out of him by the asshole who’d picked him for a potential assassin.

“I don’t deserve you,” he breathed into her shoulder. “Not either of you.”

“Sometimes people just give things, you stubborn shit,” Gilli snapped, her tone annoyed but her presence still warm against his back. “Whether people deserve them or not. Accept it.”

“Gilli has a good point,” Mara noted, her voice in his ear. She then wrapped her arms around his neck and, while she hesitated, she did lean her head against his. That counted even with the hesitation.

Taking in a deep breath, Necronim let his sister back down so her feet touched the ground and they slowly separated so there was space between them again. He kept his hands on her waist, however, and her own rested on his forearms on top of the braces that both protected him and kept the shameful brand on the right hidden. “So,” he began a little uncertainly, “now what?”

His sister frowned before replying, “I...I’m not sure. I think, I think I still need to get used to this. To…”

“Yeah,” he said softly, interrupting her. “It’s...a lot. I know.”

Mara nodded then said, “And I need to tell Cord.” When he wrinkled his eyebrows, she smiled and leaned forward, softly stating, “My husband. I didn’t exactly have three kids on my own.”

Necronim snorted at that, saying, “You’re going to have to explain to me what happened there. Last I saw you you weren’t able to get out of bed and now you’re a healthy mother.”

“Oh. You didn’t know?”

“Know what, Mar?”

His sister smiled and replied, “Your healer came through, I think. He visited us after...after your arrest...and wouldn’t tell us who had paid him only that he had been. He recognized what was wrong with me and gave Mother medicine as well as a recipe to continue getting more from an apothecary if need be.” She then frowned as she continued, “Then he gave us enough coin for us to move back to Westfall and told us that it would probably be better for my health to be out of the city.”

Wrinkling his brow, Necronim couldn’t figure out how that could have happened. He’d never sealed the deal with the healer and certainly had never paid them. That and the healer  _ he _ had been after was a woman.

“That,” he began, “that wasn’t me, Mar.”

She jerked back and gasped. “It wasn’t?”

“I never finished the deal. And the healer I was talking to was a woman.”

“So...who?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “But Light thank whoever they were. For helping you and getting you out of the city when they did.” Shaking his head, Necronim added, “You and Mother staying here after everything...it wouldn’t have been good. I’m glad you left.”

Mara wrinkled her nose and grumbled, “I hated it. I hated leaving you in that cell.”

“You and me both,” grumbled Gilli from behind him.

Necronim snorted and said, “And I’m glad the two of you weren’t able to get together to organize a jailbreak. One of us in there was enough.”

They lapsed into silence after that until Mara sighed and slowly slid her hands down his forearms towards his hands. She hesitated a moment before she tangled her fingers with his and softly stated, “I have to get back. Sara and Helen are with our neighbor since Cord is out on assignment.”

It took him a moment to realize she was talking about her children and asked, “Sara and Helen?”

“Your nieces,” Mara answered with a smile. “I hope...I hope someday you’ll be able to meet them. And whatever this little one turns out to be.” He just nodded helplessly as he glanced down at the swell of her belly.

“I hope so too,” Necronim managed to choke out. Then he frowned and asked, “Mar?”

“What?”

“Did you...did you name your kid after me?”

Mara just smiled and replied, “Maybe a little. She’s my eldest, she’s three this year. Helen turned a year old a few months ago.” Then she laughed and added, “I may have named Sara after you, big brother, but I think Helen’s going to be as stubborn as you are. She’s already showing her ass to her father and me.”

Snorting, he commented, “Light keep her from being as much of a hassle to you as I was to Mother then.”

“We can only hope,” she agreed with a laugh. Then Mara sobered and asked, “You know...you know that Mother died?”

“Fever in Westfall,” Necronim replied with a nod. “Gilli found out while she was helping me with hunting you down to find out if you were still alive. I was...I was thinking of visiting her grave there soon with the anniversary coming up soon.”

“I’d be there with you but without Cord I don’t feel safe travelling with the girls. Not on my own. And he’s on assignment in Stranglethorn for a few more months.” Mara then flashed him a worried look and he could guess why; she’d just given an agent of the Horde the location of a group of Alliance soldiers. He wished he could give her a reassuring smile but without the ability to do so in a way she would recognize, he just squeezed her fingers reassuringly. When she returned the gesture, he figured she’d at least gotten part of what he meant to say without words..

“I could bring some of my boys and escort you,” offered Gilli. She finally pulled herself away from Necronim’s back, stepping around him so she could touch Mara’s shoulder gently. “Your mother was always kind of us lot of ruffians and they’re ones who knew her, ones that Tathdyl here and I grew up with. They might cuss around your littles but your man’s a soldier so you surely know how it goes.”

As Necronim blinked at them, his sister threw back her head to laugh before replying, “Oh, he tries but sometimes he slips up. Perils of marrying a sergeant in the King’s army, I suppose.” Mara then untangled a hand from his and touched Gill’s in turn. “And thank you, Gilli. For...everything.”

He watched them as his childhood best friend rolled her eyes and waved her free hand at his sister dismissively. It was astounding how they had picked up as if things had never left off with the two of them even though Gilli hadn’t even known Mara’s location before he’d reintroduced himself and asked her to help him search. She’d always been kind to his sister when they were small, treating her like she was her own little sister and always careful with her.

It had always made him wonder if she’d had a sibling once but Gilli had never said anything and he’d never pried. He couldn’t stomach the thought of Mara dying and if Gilli had lost a sibling, he hadn’t wanted to ever bring that pain back up.

"So," he said a little uncertainly, trying to brush away the sudden thought of death connected to his sister, "we'll see each other in just over a month? In Westfall?”

"We'll be there," replied Mara with a smile and a squeeze to his fingers. "Maybe you can even meet the girls then.”

Necronim's non-existent pulse felt like it was hammering in his half-rotted veins at the mere suggestion of meeting his previously unknown nieces. "Maybe," he stated uneasily. "Though I may have my face covered. Just...just to keep from scaring them.” He would, of course, have to find gloves that covered his fingers as well. Perhaps Caren could help him with that.

Gilli frowned at him for a moment - a long one in which he was certain she was seeing right through him to his own uncomfortableness with his state of being - before stating, “I’ll contact you to hammer out the details of travel plans soon, Mara. And, if your kids are asleep, I might even bring a bottle of something for us to catch up over now that I know where to find you.”

Mara gave a grateful sounding little laugh and nodded. “I hope you’re not talking about alcohol.”

“To a woman with child?” scoffed Gilli. “Even I’m not that out of touch with my own gender. No, I have a extra bottle or two of Star’s Lament that some of my boys filched from the Quartermaster’s stores for a job.” She then quickly became serious, her eyes hard, and stated firmly, “You know what happens if we’re found out, right? If anyone knows about this? If your husband...if he doesn’t take it well.”

“I know the risks, Gilli,” Mara replied, her voice soft but hard with an edge that Necronim had never heard in the past. But she had lived four years without him, hadn’t she? She had survived her illness and grown past it and had suffered through their mother’s death alone. Mara was a  _ mother _ herself now and he remembered all too well how hard their own mother could be if she needed to. “Believe me, I know exactly what we’re talking about.”

“You sure?” pressed Gilli.

Gray eyes turned upward to meet his and Necronim stared down at his little sister as she regarded him silently, her expression oddly still. Then she smiled and nodded, never dragging her gaze from his.

“I’m not letting anything take my brother from me again.”

He sucked in a sharp breath, feeling it  _ snap _ against his useless lungs as it drew within them, and started to open his mouth when she shook her head sharply. “ _ Nothing _ , Saran,” she intoned firmly. “I don’t...it may take me time to get used to...to  _ this _ ...but I will. I lost you once. I won’t do it again. Cord will understand that.”

“You have to think about your family,” he breathed.

Mara just smiled at him and replied simply, “I  _ am  _ thinking about my family.”

Necronim looked helplessly at Gilli but she just flung her hands into the air and gave him an exasperated look. “I don’t know what you want  _ me _ to say, Tathdyl,” she hissed with a roll of her eyes. “Turns out she’s as stubborn as your ass has ever been.”

“It’s the Morkanth blood in us,” Mara commented. “All that the Tathdyl name ever brought us was pain.”

He winced because that name was still  _ his _ and as much as he might cast it aside amongst the Horde...he couldn’t with her. Not with her and not with Gilli. He  _ was _ Saran Tathdyl with them, no matter how he hated the name and the memories it held. The words were no lie. Pain and loss truly was all that the Tathdyl name had ever brought them in their lives.

But there...there had been good things connected with that name too.

His sister, here, now, holding the exposed bones of his fingers within her own and not flinching. And Gilli, firm and steady and certain Gilli, who had his back even when he didn’t deserve it.

He was really, really glad that Caren had beaten his ass into coming when he’d tried to weasel out of this meeting finally happened. Quite literally too. Necronim didn’t envy the being that expected the druid to be an easy target just because she was a healer.

“The name ends with me at least,” he commented softly. “Left to rot to history as the name of a traitor. As it should be.”

Mara started to open her mouth to protest, to obviously say something about him  _ not _ , but then she seemed to remember that he was. He  _ was _ a traitor even if he’d never meant to be. He owned that fact.

And their father had betrayed their family long before he ever had.

Instead she let her lips fall shut again and just squeezed his fingers tight.

Then she sighed and said, “I have to go.”

“I know,” he replied. “But we’ll see each other again soon. And I’ll…” Necronim paused, swallowed hard in a nervous way even though he didn’t  _ need to _ , before continuing in a low voice, “I’ll visit. Even if your children are terrified of me and your husband hates me. I’ll sneak in. I’m not going anywhere, little sister.”

Mara just smiled and then rose up on her toes, pressing her lips against his wasted cheek in a kiss that was utterly without hesitation. “I’ll do you one better, big brother,” she breathed. “I’ll see that you don’t  _ have _ to sneak in.” She gave another firm squeeze to his fingers and then her hands were sliding out of his.

For a moment he wanted to cling to her, to drag her back, to never let her leave.

But he let her hands slide through his and he watched her walk away.

It  _ hurt _ .

Letting out a ragged breath, Necronim abruptly dropped to his knees, everything that had been keeping him upright and  _ calm _ just rushing out of him. Gilli fell next to him a moment later and the next thing he knew she was dragging him into her arms, fingers in his hair as she pressed his face against her shoulder. He blinked furiously for a moment, fighting the phantom impression of sudden tears even though he never would have shed them while alive and  _ couldn’t _ now, then wrapped his arms around her.

And she just sat there, silently holding him, her heartbeat a steady sound that soothed the ragged edges of his soul.

“You take care of yourself, Tathdyl,” she breathed into the silence after what seemed an eternity. “I’d hate to turn up at Westfall with your sister and find out you’re gone.”

“I’ll be there,” he replied. Then he slowly pulled away from her, bringing his hands up to rest them on her upper arms before sliding them down to take her hands in his. Light, death had apparently made him  _ mushy _ . “I’m not letting anything drag me away again. Not after...not after this. Not after…”

The words stilled on his tongue but she knew. He knew she knew what they were.

_ Not after you let me back in. _

“Good,” Gilli said firmly. She then grinned wickedly at him before she leaned forward, pressing a kiss against the stitches at the edge of his mouth. If he’d had working lungs, he’d have stopped breathing. “I’d hate to have to hunt you down and kick your ass.”

Necronim just chuckled at that and replied, “I’d hate to be the man that pissed you off.” Then she was smiling brightly as him - not wicked or mischievous but  _ bright _ as a beacon - and he asked, “What?”

Gilli was silent but still beaming as she shook her head and rose to her feet, dragging him up with her. Her hands squeezed his and she said, “A man.”

“What?”

“That’s what you just said. That you’d hate to be the  _ man _ who pissed me off.”

He stared and she smiled, saying, “Just a man. Not an undead and not a monster.” Her fingers freed themselves from his suddenly numb grip then, rising to brush his hair back behind his ears. “Remember that when I’m not around to kick sense into your ass, yeah, Tathdyl?”

“Yeah,” he agreed more than a little breathlessly. He didn’t know what to say to her in response to that, purely on the fact that he no longer thought of himself as a man. Then he coughed and stated, “You should get moving yourself. Can’t have your boys causing trouble with you being away too long, right?”

“You trying to get rid of me?”

“Can’t get rid of stubborn burrs, Gilli.”

She snorted, shaking her head, and gave him a smile. “You only  _ think _ you’re funny, Tathdyl,” Gilli commented. Then she punched him lightly in the chest and barked, “Stay in one piece for a month. And give your tauren lady my thanks for beating your stubborn ass back into shape. I’d like to meet her someday.”

Necronim smiled in the only way he could - inwardly horrified at the idea of Gilli and Caren getting together to needle at him - and assured, “Maybe one day you will.”

“Ha, we’ll see,” she scoffed disbelievingly before turning to stride away from him around the castle walls. He watched her go for a moment before he sighed and lifted a hand to run it through his hair. Then he brought his hand down and the tips of his exposed fingers lingered over the spot where her lips had so briefly rested.

He didn’t deserve them, not any one of the ladies in his life.

He hadn’t deserved Caren to take pity on an undead howling in the dark of Stranglethorn and remind him of how to be a person again.

He hadn’t deserved what had just happened with Mara, for her to look at him in horror and still accept him as her brother, to still try and be family.

And he sure as everything didn’t deserve Gilli’s friendship, her loyalty, or the fact that she apparently was still carrying around a torch for him.

It was...nice...though to be touched without fear.

Shaking himself, Necronim growled out loud, “You sentimental shit.” He then turned and glanced up at the high wall of Stormwind. Beyond which was Gilli and her boys and her work as well as his sister and her family.

And a place where he no longer belonged.

Turning away, he strode away from the walls of the city, back towards the distant little glade he’d found where he’d left his wyvern. When he got there, there was a very familiar horned eagle perched on the saddle, its head tucked half beneath a wing in what he knew was a light sleep. His wyvern let out a little feline chuff in greeting as it saw him and the noise instantly stirred the bird of prey, making it lift its head and fluff its feathers out as it croaked a greeting.

Necronim scoffed and gruffly commented, “I know it’s you, Caren.”

The eagle opened its beak in what might have been a laugh or a smile then launched itself from the saddle, its form smoothly becoming the much larger form of his savior. Despite the gain of several hundred pounds of muscle and bone, Caren’s hooves made little noise against the earth as she landed. There was always something cat-like about the druid, even when she was in her own form, and he wasn’t just referring to the fact that her eyes sometimes shifted to feline when she was angry.

“So it went well?” she asked in Orcish, her low voice - so familiar after the many weeks she had spent with him in that washout she’d found him in - soothing to him.

“You mean you weren’t up in a tree spying on us?” he replied, switching smoothly into the language as well from the Common he’d been using. He’d helped her get better at Common over the time they’d known each other but he had picked up the orc’s tongue far quicker than she could grasp his own.

Caren just blinked at him before replying, “I would not take your reunion with your sister from you, Nec.”

Shrugging one shoulder, he asked, “Then what are you doing here?”

“I’m just here as a friend.”

That statement made some of the tense feeling abruptly in his shoulders and back dissipate and he nodded towards her. “Thank you.”

Waving a hand, the druid replied, “I’ve told you you don’t need to…”

“Caren,” he interrupted sternly, causing her to fall silent, “I owe you more than I can ever repay even in my undead lifetime. Stop being stubborn and just take the damned thanks?”

She smiled at him in response and nodded, her horns dipping slightly lower than they likely needed to. Then she gestured towards the sky and asked, “Shall we fly? It’s a long flight back down to the boat at Booty Bay to head home.”

_ Home. _

The word made Necronim turn to look back towards the walls of the city, which he couldn’t see from where they were but he could still see some of the taller buildings. Once...once that had been home.

Now home was more fluid.

It was sometimes a tauren tent in Thunder Bluff on Elder Rise, his back to the wall and his mind drifting as Caren slept.

There was an orcish hut in Orgrimmar belonging to Chanasai Crowstalker that he had been given an open invitation to whenever he needed it, whether the scout was there or not.

Most often it was wherever the druid herself was, his own personal haven of peace and calm and a silent reminder that he was more than a traitor and a killer. That he was a friend.

And now, perhaps, that he was still a brother.

So maybe someday he might have a home in Stormwind City again, in whatever place his sister carved out for him in her life.

  
“Yeah,” he replied softly, turning his eyes away from Stormwind and back towards Caren. She smiled back at him, her amber eyes kind and  _ proud _ , as he finished, “Let’s go home.”


End file.
